This episode is presented by eBay.

Rob, everyone loves a deal and a bargain from time to time, don't they? Absolutely, mate. And you know where you can grab a great deal? Talk to me. Where? The eBay app. Yes, you are correct. You didn't need to talk to me. I already knew it. I love eBay. When you're buying, you can discover loads of hidden gems. there's so many items where you think I would have never found that anywhere else.

Then when you're buying, you can discover loads of hidden gems. There's so many items where you think I would have never found that anywhere else. Then when you're selling, it's so simple and most

importantly, free. It's free, Rob. When it's this easy to sell for free and there's great deals

on things you love. You can't help but say when it's eBay. It excludes vehicles and business

sellers. Welcome to Science Talk,

the weekly podcast of Scientific American, for the seven days starting February 14th. I'm Steve

Murski. This week on the podcast, we'll celebrate Valentine's Day by bringing you the bad

and good news about the online dating scene with psychologist Robert

Epstein. And Scott Johnson will tell us about his myelin repair foundation and how it's a model

for a new kind of outcome-oriented biomedical research. First up, Robert Epstein. He's a visiting

scholar at the University of California, San Diego. He's also a contributing

editor for Scientific American Mind magazine and the host of his own show on Sirius Satellite

Radio called Sycht. He's the author of the article, The Truth About Online Dating,

in the current Scientific American Mind. To find out more, I called him at his home in San Diego.

Hi, Dr. Epstein. How are you today?

Good, Steve. How are you?

I'm okay. So tell me about online dating. How did you get so interested in the subject, first of all?

Well, partly because I was doing some online dating. That made me very curious.

Then I learned that there were researchers, people like me, doing legitimate research on online dating,

people at MIT and Boston University and other good places, and they were trying to understand

it scientifically, mainly using surveys but using other techniques as well.

...